poor buffaloes...

"the searchers" is my second western film. umm....i didn't like it that much, even though i always try to see the best elements in a film. the main character ethan (john wayne) is supposed to be the hero of the film, but he's racist and likes his sister in law. i didn't find the character charming or extremely intelligent, and also he was cranky throughout the film so i was feeling a bit cranky too from watching him being cranky.

there's also a lot of unnecessary violence. i like films with a lot of action, but in this one, the violence was stupid and not epic. why didn't the searchers and the indians negotiate? they were acting like savages, it was hilarious. in a sad way. ethan and his people were randomly killing the indians and taking out their anger on buffaloes. i would be pretty pissed if i were an innocent buffalo who's just chillin' and hanging out when suddenly out of nowhere get shot in the face. talk about disrespect for your fellow earth inhabitants...

the part that kept me from completely disliking the film is what ethan did at the end. he finally came to his senses and decided not to kill his niece debbie (natalie wood), who he originally intended to save but later decided to kill because he feared she might've been changed into an indian.
ethan did the right thing. i'm proud of him, but i still don't like him.

the landscape in the film was beautiful though.